United to end nonstops to Cleveland June 5

United Airlines will end its nonstop service between Albany and Cleveland June 5th, airline spokeswoman Mary Clark said Thursday, blaming the service cutback on a shortage of regional airline pilots.

Service has been shrinking between the two cities for some time; currently, United currently has a single flight each way with a 50-seat Q300 turboprop. The flight has been averaging 33 passengers a day, airport spokesman Doug Myers said.

Travelers weren’t happy with the cutbacks.

“Before January there was a full day shuttle of about three flights each way starting at 6 a.m. in Albany,” one traveler posted on the website of The Plain Dealer, which reported the cutbacks earlier this week. “These were all on a typical regional jet. Now the flights are once a day on a prop plane, so therefore flight time has increased yet looking at the fares, costs have not gone down much.”

The reductions were the latest for United at Cleveland, previously a hub for Continental Airlines, with which United merged in 2010. In February, when United first announced cutbacks at Cleveland, Albany wasn’t on the list. But a growing shortage of pilots for regional carriers led the airline to cut not only Albany service but also its flights to Baltimore.

“While we are disappointed in the loss of direct Cleveland service, we continue to discuss opportunities for new destinations with United Airlines,” Myers said.

The Albany County Airport Authority has been seeking new service between Albany and a number of cities in the West and Southwest, including Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston. All four are United hubs.

United offers nonstop service between Albany and its hubs in Newark, Chicago and Washington.